FOREWORD

SWEET RECOLLECTIONS

V. Ganesan - the author of this book - is our most respected Ganesanna. He is Ramana Bhagavan’s younger brother’s grandson. So, he had the great good fortune of spending his entire childhood in the sacred presence of Sri Bhagavan. As a child, Sri Bhagavan has fondled him, taught him, and even chided him like a grandfather. Now, we are in a phase where all the Old Devotees of Sri Bhagavan are fast disappearing. Even a person who has seen Bhagavan Ramana once, that too casually, has become rare and precious. At this juncture, having someone who has lived up to his fourteenth year in the presence of Sri Bhagavan and has lived his entire life in Sri Ramanasramam, rendering service, is indeed invaluable. We cannot see people who have seen the Buddha or Adi Sankara, but we are now at a time where we can still see people who have seen Bhagavan Ramana - one of the greatest manifestations in the spiritual sphere.

So, the readers of Ganesanna should keep all the above in their mind while reading his words.

Ganesanna has asked me to write a ‘Foreword’ to his book on Saints and Sages. I am only a child in age and experience and hence don’t consider myself capable in anyway to comment on his writings. I am recording some moments that I have spent with Anna. In this book, he has with his own inimitable persuasion, added the story of this body also. I tried my level best to stop him from writing about me. Instead of acceding to it, he made me proof-read that very article! I surrendered myself to the divine statement, “Thy will be done”.

Ganesanna was familiar to me even before I came to Tiruvannamalai through The Mountain Path. On my very first visit, I saw Anna at the Ashram dining hall receiving the devotees with folded hands in namaskar. After one or two years, Nataraja Iyer, the librarian, took me to him at ‘Ananda Ramana’. At that time, Anna was sitting in his hammock. Nataraja Iyer asked Anna to tell him about Sri Bhagavan’s Self-enquiry ‘Who am I?’ Anna asked him, “When a master like Sri Bhagavan tells you “YOU ARE THAT” -- “TAT TVAM ASI” -- , what is your response to that?”

N: I am not mature enough to understand that.

VG: Who is this ‘I’ which comes in between you and the Master’s sacred words?......Pay attention to the ‘I’. That is the enquiry.

This novel way of dealing with the Mahavakya : ‘TAT TVAM ASI’ and ‘Who am I ?’ had a satori-like effect on me that day. The atmosphere was silent and Arunachala was shining in all His majesty before us. To this day, that meeting with a great devotee of Sri Bhagavan remains very fresh in my mind.

Once I went to ‘Ananda Ramana’ and Anna was alone. From our very first contact, Anna used to address me as ‘Ramana’ only. Then too, he was sitting on his hammock and reading Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi. The very scene was inspiring. A person who has seen Sri Bhagavan, had satsang with innumerable Saints and brought out the many unpublished dialogues with the Maharshi, e.g., Talks, Day by Day and Letters, sitting alone in a hermitage reading the Talks like a fresh sadhaka, was itself a sacred sight. At that time, Anna was going through some turmoil in his life.

He suddenly said to me “Where are the ‘others’, Ramana? Is not the ‘other’ a mere thought? ‘What IS, is only the Self,’ says Sri Bhagavan. Only with the ‘other’, you need ‘thought’. With you -- the ‘I AM’ -- thought is unnecessary. To be without thoughts itself is the greatest penance. To stay in the I AM Here and Now is Sri Bhagavan’s teaching.” Those words sunk deep into me. It was an unforgettable satsang with him – listening to the anecdotes on Sri Bhagavan, getting clarity on Self-enquiry and above all, sitting alone with him drinking his motiveless love.

That day I told him, “Anna I don’t want to give talks like this. I wish to remain alone in meditation.” Hearing this Ganesanna said “No, Ramana, you are an instrument of Sri Bhagavan. The secret of ‘I AM’ must be revealed – ‘jagathil tanmayam tazhaikka’ -- ‘Arunachala gave His own padam (commandment) to me so that Self-knowledge will flourish in this world’, says Sri Bhagavan. So too, he has given you this work. Actually all things are only ‘Happening’, there is no ‘Doing’ at all.” Holding my hand like a child, he continued, “Dear Ramana! I also wish to join you in this spiritual joy.” He even wrote this and gave it to me during his long periods of seclusion and mounam (silence).

He lived for long periods in mounam after retiring from Ashram work. The gate of ‘Ananda Ramana’ remained strictly locked. I was perhaps the only visitor in those days. For many days, I used to read to him books like The Great Swan. Mostly he would write to me his insights in beautiful language dripping with love. His motiveless love is something which one seldom comes across in this world. Those who expected outer signs, failed to see him as he appeared somewhat modern and unorthodox. They failed to notice his genuine love and surrender to Sri Bhagavan. With all my orthodoxy and traditional life, Sri Bhagavan made me see His child in ‘Anna’. For me, any person who has seen Sri Bhagavan is worthy of worship, not to speak of ‘Anna’ who was named, touched and blessed by Sri Bhagavan and who was born in the same family. Above all, throughout his life he has been thinking, speaking, and writing only about the Great Master.

Dr.M.R.Krishnamurthy Iyer

During the period of his rest after his heart surgery I used to visit him more frequently and at those times, Anuradha Ma used to make me speak on something connected to Srimad Bhagavatham and Sri Bhagavan. In those days, ‘Anna’ used to radiate and exude peace. It was not merely the presence of a heart patient. Listening to my talks one day, he said, “Ramana, you know, this satsang is my real treatment. When I listen to you, the real healing takes place. In my youth, I had a state of altered awareness for a protracted period. In that state, I left Mumbai and landed in holy Kasi. There by the Grace of the Lord, I recovered but in between I swooned and was left as dead in a mortuary. Some Bairagis (tribals) put heated iron on my back as a treatment. That wound became infected. In that state, my father traced me and brought me back to Tiruvannamalai. Here, Dr. M. R. Krishnamurthy Iyer (whom Sri Bhagavan used to address as ‘Our Ashram Doctor’) treated me. Along with the medication, he used to narrate lot of Sri Bhagavan’s anecdotes. Once he said “Ganesa! These stories of Sri Bhagavan are the real herbs that is doing the healing and not me or the medicines.” Saying this ‘Anna’ as usual patted his hands on my thigh with affection and said “Ramana ! You are doing the same treatment now. Ramana! My life is very enriched, very blissful. The days I spent with the Old Devotees of Sri Bhagavan are enough for me. Only in them, did I recognize who Sri Bhagavan truly IS. Although I had intimate contacts with Sri Bhagavan, I looked at him only as my thaathaa (grandfather). After that, I got the love of Yogi Ramsuratkumar and now, you are pouring love on me.” Those words were heart-melting!

It was Ganesanna who took us to all places connected to Sri Bhagavan -- like, Pachai Amman Kovil, Pavazhakundru, Gurumurtham, and to various spots in Sri Arunachaleswara Temple -- Vannimarathu Pillayar, Iluppai tree, etc., where Sri Bhagavan had spent considerable time. He took us innumerable times for outer and inner Giri Pradakshina, narrating a new incident about Sri Bhagavan or significance of some sacred spot around the Hill, leaving me in awe about how he remembered all those details about Sri Bhagavan! The secret behind this phenomenal ‘Siddhi ’ is nothing but his passionate love for Sri Bhagavan.

He was very particular that Hema, Sadasiva and I accompany him to holy Kasi. He made all arrangements for our family to stay on the very banks of Ganga at Krishnamurti Foundation. There we had wonderful satsang with him for almost twenty days. ‘Anna’ and I have thus spent innumerable days and nights in spiritual inundation, unmindful of passage of hours and days. Those days of great peace and joy still continue and that alone is worthy in life. Things like name, fame and recognition from the world are worthless and dangerous as they take us away from God.

Although I discouraged ‘Anna’ many times from writing about other Saints, especially living ones, he wrote this book persuaded by the loving request of the Mahatma of Velpur. Let this book help innumerable spiritual seekers is my prayer to Sri Bhagavan from the bottom of my Heart.

These few flowers of ‘Sweet Recollections’ are offered as gratitude to Ganesanna, who gave us so many Gems from Sri Bhagavan’s Treasure Trove!

RAMANA CHARANA TIRTHA (NOCHUR VENKATARAMAN)

Having darshan of Sun rising over Ganga Mata